Improved buckle



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EARLE A. SMITH AND DWIGHT L. SMITH, OF VVATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVED BUCKLE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,811, dated July 31, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EARLE A. SMITH and DWIGHT L. SMITH, both of the cit-y of Water bury, in the county of New. Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Buckles; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction, character, and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, in which-- 7 Figure 1 is a perspective view of the obverse side of the complete buckle. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the reverse side of the same, showing the pinching-bar of the lever as raised from the frame part, ready for inserting the running part of the strap or webbing. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the frame of the buckle, ready to receive the lever and anchor part. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the lever and anchor part, ready to be attached to the frame. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the obverse side of the buckle when so made that the standing part of the webbing or strap is to be attached to a loop or bar and the ears or eye parts of the hinges are on the frame and are to be locked or set down around the center bar of the lever and loop part, and showing the two straps or webbings in their proper places. Fig.6 is a perspective view of the obverse side of the frame, ready to receive the lever and loop part. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the reverse side of the frame, showing the ears or eye parts of the hinges in the central portion or bar of the frame, which are to be locked or set down around the center bar of the lever and loop part of the buckle. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the reverse side of the lever and loop part, ready to be attached to the frame, Fig. 6 or 7, to complete the buckle. Our improvement consists in making the buckle of twoparts, with the pinching-bar of the lever under or on the reverse side of the frame, and so that it will pinch the running part of the strap or webbing against one of the edges or corners of the central bar of the frame, in both of which points it differs from all buckles heretofore made, as We believe.

We make the frame A, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, of one piece of sheet metal by cutting and raising or swaging it to the shape or form substantially as represented in Fig. 3that is, with two longitudinal slots, as a and b, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and with two suitable journals, as sta tionary parts of the hinges, as shown at c and 0, Fig.3, around which the ears or eye parts of the hinges on the lever and anchor part are to be locked or set down, as at d and d, Fig. 2, and with a longitudinal central bar, B, as shown in Figs. 1' and 3, against the under edge or corner of which the running part of the webbing or strap is to be pressed or pinched by the bar 6 of the lever when any strain is applied.

We make the lever and anchor part of one piece of sheet metal by cutting and swaging it substantially into the shape or form shown in Fig. 4-that is, with the pinching-bar e, the slot 9, the anchor h, and ears or eye parts of the hinges d and d, which ears are indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, where the hinges are completely formed.

Having made the two parts as above described, we place the lever and anchor part,

Fig. 4., under or against the reverse side of the frame, Fig. 3, and lock or set down the ears or eye parts of the hinges d and 01 around the journals or stationary parts of the hinges c and 0, so that the whole will appear on the obverse side as represented in Fig. 1, and on the reverse side as represented in Fig. 2, and will be ready for use or market; or we make the frame A with two slots, to and b, and a plain central bar, B, as shown in Fig. 6, which represents the obverse side of the frame, and in Fig. 7, which represents the reverse side of the frame.

With this form of frame we make the eye parts of the joints or hinges by cutting or punching and raising the ears for the eye parts of the hinges from the central bar, 18, as shown at Z and I, Fig. 7, and indicated Z and I, Fig. 6, and one of them is partially shown at Z, Fig. 5, and we make the lever and loop part also with two slots. as g and m, Fig. 8, and three bars, as c, n, and p, and raise or strike it up so that it will be concave laterally on the reverse side, as represented in Fig. 8, so that it may be rocked or vibrated laterally on its longitudinal center in the eye parts of the hinges, to allow the bar 6 to pinch the running part D of the webbing 0r strap against the edge or longitudinal corner of the central bar, B, as near to, Figs. 6 and 7.

Having made these two parts, Figs. 6 or 7 and 8, as above described, we place the central bar, n, Fig. 8, (which forms the solid part of the hinges, with the bar 0, Fig. 8, against the reverse side of the slot a, Figs. 6 or 7,) into the ears Z and Z, Fig. 7, and close or set down the cars so as to lock them around the center bar, 12, and complete the hinges, when the buckle will be complete in that form and ready for use or market.

To use this buckle we hook the anchor 71., Figs. 1, 2, and 4, into a suitable hole prepared in the standing part of the strap or webbing 0, Fig. 5, or we sew or otherwise secure the standing part to the bar p, Fig. 8, the anchor being best for thick straps and the bar best for thin webbing.

We then pass the end of the running part, as D, Fig. 5, of the strap through the slot g, Figs. 2, 4, and S, in the lever, and through the slot a, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, in the frame A, and after drawing it up to its proper tension, we carry the loose end across the center and pass it through the slot 1), Figs. 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, when all will appear smooth, as represented in Fig. 5, and the strain on the strap or web bing D will press the bar 0 of the lever toward or against the under or reverse side of the frame, so as to pinch the strap between the bar 6 and the edge or longitudinal corner of the central bar, B, of the frame A, so as to hold the strap immovable until it is released by drawing the loose end from under the frame or slide, and then pressing the anchor h, Fig. 2, or the bar 1), Fig. 8, against the frame, which will force or rock the bar 0 so far from the bar B as to release the strap D, Fig. 5, so that it may be drawn out freely. This buckle may be made by attaching the anchor h or the loop or bar 1) to the frame by a separate or independent hinge; but that would make it more expensive in its construction and less useful in several particulars.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the bar 6 of the lever with the bar B-of the frame, whether the eye parts of the hinges are on the lever part, as in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, or on the frame part, as in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, when the bar 0 is made to pinch the running part of the strap between itself and the edge or reverse or under corner of the central bar, B, of the frame, and the buckle is constructed and fitted for use substantially as herein described and set forth.

EARLE A. SMITH. DWIGHT L. SMITH. Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS S. CHASE, OHAs. R. HOWARD. 

